St Denis’ Primary School
Dennistoun
Glasgow City Council

30 March 2010

HM Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) inspects schools in order to let parents¹, children and the local community know whether their school² provides a good education. Inspectors also discuss with school staff how they can improve the quality of education.

At the beginning of the inspection, we ask the headteacher and staff about the strengths of the school, what needs to improve, and how they know. We use the information they give us to help us plan what we are going to look at. During the inspection, we go into classes and join other activities in which children are involved. We also gather the views of children, parents, staff and members of the local community. We find their views very helpful and use them together with the other information we have collected to arrive at our view of the quality of education.

This report tells you what we found during the inspection and the quality of education in the school. We describe how well children are doing, how good the school is at helping them to learn and how well it cares for them. We comment on how well staff, parents and children work together and how they go about improving the school. We also comment on how well the school works with other groups in the community, including services which support children. Finally, we focus on how well the school is led and how staff help the school achieve its aims.

If you would like to learn more about our inspection of the school, please visit www.hmie.gov.uk . Here you can find analyses of questionnaire returns from children, parents and staff. We will not provide questionnaire analyses where the numbers of returns are so small that they could identify individuals.

Contents

1. The school
2. Particular strengths of the school
3. How well do children learn and achieve?
4. How well do staff work with others to support children's learning?
5. Are staff and children actively involved in improving their school community?
6. Does the school have high expectations of all children?
7. Does the school have a clear sense of direction?
8. What happens next?

3. How well do children learn and achieve?

Learning and achievement

Children engage enthusiastically in their learning and are proud of their achievements. They are involved increasingly in active learning. They cooperate well with each other when they are working in groups or pairs. They are not always clear enough about how to improve their work. Almost all children feel safe and cared for in school.

Children are developing a range of skills through well-planned activities. For example, investigating artefacts during a social studies topic and creating musical instruments during a topic on communications. They are developing good skills in physical education and understand the importance of being fit and healthy. Children are developing citizenship skills through a variety of learning opportunities. For example, they had organised several events to raise funds for the Haiti appeal. They broaden their experiences through taking part in educational trips to places of local interest and, at P7, a residential visit to Kingswood. Children are involved actively in a range of out-of-classroom activities which are developing their self-confidence. Their learning is enriched by visitors to the school, including a recent visit from an archaeologist as part of topic work. Most children take part in after-school clubs which include drama, choir, football, netball, badminton and dance fitness.

Children are making good progress in English language and mathematics. Children’s attainment in reading and writing has improved over the last few years. Most children are achieving national levels of attainment in reading and writing and almost all are achieving them in mathematics. A significant number of children are attaining these levels early. The majority of children listen well to each other and to their teacher. They are confident and contribute well to class discussions. They are interested in reading and can discuss their favourite books. They would benefit from writing for a greater range of purposes. In mathematics, at all stages, children are developing their skills in mental calculations. Children at the early stages are developing a good understanding of number work. By P7, they are confident in using a range of problem solving strategies.

Curriculum and meeting learning needs

Children at all stages have opportunities for learning in a broad range of curricular areas. Teachers are taking increasing account of Curriculum for Excellence to link learning activities, for example, at the early stages through topic work and science. From the early stages, children have opportunities to develop skills in art and benefit from learning Italian or French. Across the school, children need more opportunities to develop their skills in information and communications technology. Children in the upper school visit the nursery for story telling sessions and then buddy the children when they come to school. Children in P7 have visits to and from the secondary across the year to help them transfer with confidence to St Mungo’s Academy. Children at all stages benefit from two hours of good quality physical education each week.

Staff know children well. In most lessons, staff meet children’s needs through well-planned and motivating learning experiences. Most tasks are set at an appropriate level but do not always make children think deeply enough about their learning. Sometimes work is too easy for higher-achieving children. Most teachers use an appropriate variety of teaching approaches. They give clear explanations and share with children what they expect them to learn. Staff should involve children more in reviewing their progress and in identifying the next steps for their own learning. The school has effective approaches for identifying, monitoring and supporting those children with additional needs. Children with additional support plans have appropriate learning targets which are reviewed regularly with parents. Support for children with English as an additional language is well planned and responsive to their needs. Pupil support assistants provide children with effective encouragement and support.

4. How well do staff work with others to support children’s learning?

Staff use effective partnerships with support agencies, including educational psychology and visual impairment services, to support children’s learning. The school works effectively with the Active Schools coordinator to organise a range of activities for children which build confidence and support an active lifestyle. The community campus police officer works effectively with school staff, including helping children in upper primary understand how to stay safe on the Internet. Regular newsletters keep parents well informed about school events. The majority of parents think the school keeps them well informed about their children’s progress. The Parent Council, along with other parents, supports the work of the school and has been successful at fundraising. The school consults with parents over sensitive health issues. The school has good links with the local parish and wider community of faith. Children share visits with local non-denominational primary schools as part of their anti-sectarianism work on the Divided City topic. The school needs to develop a clear system for recording how it deals with complaints.

5. Are staff and children actively involved in improving their school community?

Children are proud of their school. They enjoy taking responsibility on the eco group and the pupil council. In P7 they take their responsibilities seriously as house captains and vice captains. The eco group helped organise the recent successful eco week and is working towards achieving an Eco-Schools Scotland green flag award. The school has been successful in gaining a health promoting schools award. Children have also been awarded the ‘Buddy Fit Award’. This has involved older children training younger children to play and be active. The school has a well-planned approach to evaluating the quality of education it provides. The headteacher and depute headteacher visit classes to observe learning and provide staff with useful feedback. They monitor the work of children to ensure they are making appropriate progress. Teachers are beginning to share classroom experiences with each other to improve children’s learning. Children now need to be more fully involved in contributing to discussions about improving learning.

6. Does the school have high expectations of all children?

The school has a welcoming ethos and children are well behaved in class and around school. Staff have high expectations of behaviour and achievement and are highly committed to children’s care and welfare. The school has appropriate policies for child protection and takes appropriate action if children are absent from school without explanation. Most children think staff encourage them to work to the best of their ability. The school celebrates children’s achievements at assemblies. Children are learning about the importance of making good choices about their own health and wellbeing. They understand the importance of respect for others and value the sense of community promoted by the school’s Roman Catholic values. The school has appropriate arrangements for religious observance and for developing children’s awareness of other cultures.

7. Does the school have a clear sense of direction?

The headteacher knows the school’s strengths and areas for development. She is highly committed to the wellbeing of children and staff. Staff find her supportive and approachable. She is well supported by the depute headteacher. They have developed an effective approach to monitoring the progress and attendance of children. The recently appointed principal teachers are leading innovative work in the school. Staff need to continue to share good practice and work more closely as a team across the whole school. They require to work together with a clear, shared focus on continuing to improve children’s learning.

8. What happens next?

We are confident that the school will be able to make the necessary improvements in light of the inspection findings. As a result, we will make no more visits in connection with this inspection. The school and the education authority will inform parents about the school’s progress in improving the quality of education.

Quality indicators help schools and nursery classes, education authorities and inspectors to judge what is good and what needs to be improved in the work of a school and a nursery class. You can find these quality indicators in the HMIE publications How good is our school? and The Child at the Centre. Following the inspection of each school, the Scottish Government gathers evaluations of three important quality indicators to keep track of how well all Scottish schools and nursery classes are doing.

Here are the evaluations for St Denis’ Primary School.

We also evaluated the following aspects of the work of the school.

HM Inspector: Carol A McDonald
30 March 2010

When we write reports, we use the following word scale so that our readers can see clearly what our judgments mean.

If you would like to find out more about our inspections or get an electronic copy of this report, please go to www.hmie.gov.uk.

Please contact us if you want to know how to get the report in a different format, for example, in a translation, or if you wish to comment about any aspect of our inspections. You can contact us at HMIEenquiries@hmie.gsi.gov.uk or write to us at BMCT, HM Inspectorate of Education, Denholm House, Almondvale Business Park, Almondvale Way, Livingston EH54 6GA.

Text phone users can contact us on 01506 600 236. This is a service for deaf users. Please do not use this number for voice calls as the line will not connect you to a member of staff.

You can find our complaints procedure on our website www.hmie.gov.uk or alternatively you can contact our Complaints Manager, at the address above or by telephoning 01506 600259.

Where the school has a nursery class, you can contact the Complaints Coordinator, Headquarters, Care Commission, Compass House, Riverside Drive, Dundee DD1 4NY, telephone 0845 603 0890.

Crown Copyright 2010
HM Inspectorate of Education

Footnotes

1. Throughout this report, the term ‘parents’ should be taken to include foster carers, residential care staff and carers who are relatives or friends.
2. The term ‘school’ includes the nursery class or classes where appropriate.